The Bitterest Tears

Title: The Bitterest Tears

Author: yeknodelttil

Series/Movie: STARGATE ATLANTIS

Category: Romance/Angst

Rating: T

Spoilers: Tell you when I think of some.

Warning: This is pretty bad writing! I thought I'd warn you!

Disclaimer: Roses are red, Violets are blue, I don't own them, Pretty please don't sue!

Summary: If results are what you expect; consequences are what you get.

The bitterest tears shed over a grave are for words unsaid and deeds left undone

The Wraith were gone but at a price.

The Atlantis expedition owed them, the SGC, Earth, the Athosians, each galaxy owed them. Debts that could never be paid. Debts that should have been paid but they were too stubborn to pay them.

They always put everyone else's needs before their own. Duty always called in this galaxy; they deserved to be heard out. For someone to listen to their one and only request.

They wanted to get married, the morning before that fateful mission they had asked only to receive harsh words. Their relationship had been a secret; then she became pregnant. He couldn't have been happier; he would have been a father. People had begun to settle down but no one could understand why they were forbidden from doing the same.

They had no right to deny them a family, or sent them on that mission as punishment. A punishment that proved more harmful than intended. They wanted results, maybe that was the logic behind sending them on the mission but as with the expectations of success the consequences will always be disastrous.

No one but he knew she was pregnant. They kept it a secret, everyone had to deal with the fact they had killed a child. In their heads 'You killed the lass' bairn!' ran through their heads again and again.

Most of all no one would ever see that boyish smile again, the way he ran his hand through his black hair or see his eyes twinkle with love. No one would see her beaming smile, the way she kept him in his place or see her raise her eyebrow whenever she became confused.

Before the entire Atlantis Expedition and the few delegates from the SGC lay a double grave. Hearts had met but were torn apart by their friends. Looking down at the grave people wept, they had died holding hands; it was only right that they try to correct some of the damage by burying them together. The expedition leader stepped up to speak.

"The bitterest tears shed over a grave are for words unsaid and deeds left undone. We owed so much to this couple but never gave back, they suffered due to our own selfishness but they never let it show. We will have to bear the fact that we had the opportunity to grant their simple request but we never did. They saved both this galaxy and Earth's. Let it be known that for all time here lies the grave of Teyla Emmagen and Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard."

Freedom is not free; it cost two people who were very much in love and the life of their unborn child.

The End